Experiences kicking nicotine addictions

Might be an offbeat topic, but I’m curious if any of you have experience in quitting nicotine addictions or habits. I, like many people my age (18) got hooked on vaping a while ago and after realizing it was just making me feel lethargic and sh*tty, I went cold turkey 10 days ago. Still the cravings and withdrawal have been really awful and honestly haven’t been getting better. So if some of you have stories I could use some motivation. Obviously quitting cigs is harder, but this has been one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life.

Best of luck to you for quitting!  One thing I found helpful (2+ packs a day smoker, quit in 1986) was to take frequent showers.  Somebody said that while the nicotine is leaving your body, you can actually still smell it and it makes you crave the nicotine. I don't know if this is true, but showers are relaxing and it's hard to light up in the shower.    I did a gradual let-up until I quit, making certain places and times I smoked not available anymore, like in the car, or indoors, or first thing in the am and also gradually cut back to lower nicotine cigarettes.  Again, hang in there, it will get better!  And you will feel so much better with time.  

I quit gradually by not buying packs and only occasionally bumming from others or buying singles from stores that would illegally sell them. I had a new girlfriend who I was hiding my smoking from, so that helped.
Finally, i had not had one in a while and I suppose I lost some of my tolerance because the next time I bummed one while drunk I got very sick and that feeling lasted for a day or two. I never smoked a cigarette again. Unfortunately, my attraction to smoking other things increased, but I am really glad I quit my addiction to nicotine.

Edited by Easy Money - January 30 2020 at 21:15

I’m now on day 19, cravings very minor and rare. Thanks for sharing your stories. I’ve been trying to fill the hole in my life that quitting nicotine/drugs has left behind currently.

Edited by dougmcauliffe - February 08 2020 at 12:01

Great job Doug 

twseel wrote: I quit this past summer after 4 years of increasing usage... Like 'timothy leary' said, it starts with really believing you want to quit. Nicotine really is an afwul, useless, manipulative substance and I could no longer think of excuses to keep using it. Then go cold turkey until the urge disappears, took me three months before it truly was gone, after that you should feel no more urge to start again.

Well done, totally agree with your sentiments about nicotine. Nicotine does nothing but get you addicted. I’m close to 3 weeks in and the cravings are at the point where they aren’t strong enough to make me want to pick it back up like they were the first 10 days or so.

I´ve quit a couple of times through the years and started Again, but it´s never been the physical part which has bothered me when I quit. It´s always phychological and especially alcohol tricks my craving like nothing else. I have no problem in my everyday life at Work, at home, or in the weekends, but when I go out with the boys or go to a concert, or go to a football match, that´s when it gets hard. Therefore I have purchased a Little plastic Shell with nicotine ampules, which I use on those occassions, and it Works surprisingly well. After many years I have come to the conclusion that I can´t completely live without it, so I´ve made a compromise with myself.

Edited by UMUR - February 09 2020 at 00:42

The other suggestion for kicking nicotine is..... well, if you absolutely can't, try e-cigarettes. 

Despite the current Moral Panic, e-cigarettes are safe. I used to make my own liquid, the components of which are FDA regulated food additives for flavouring, nicotine (see "neurotransmitter" above), vegetable glycerine (see "in lots of food") and / or polyethylene glycol, which is used in both eye and neurosurgery. You get a nicotine hit, and might find you prefer the cleaner taste to cigarettes, which taste like a burning haystack after you get used to vaping. 

However. There's a lot of fiddling about. Poly glycol tends to dry your throat out, you have to charge batteries up and get new atomisers (I make my own coils and wicks too, sad bunny). 

Which leads us to another alternative - pipes or cigars. 

Shock horror but hear me out. 

Amongst pipe smokers (I've been smoking a pipe for 17-18 years) the old saying is "cigarettes are an addiction, cigars are a hobby but pipes are a religion". It's probably true. I mainly gave up cigarettes (I smoke 5 a day, max, now) as I really didn't like them any more. Cigarettes are full of the cheapest, dryest, floor scrapings of tobacco you can find. You tend to smoke a cigarette for a nicotine injection. And a lot of people inhale. Inhalation brings a much heightened risk of lung cancer. 

I used to smoke cigars, but it gets quite expensive, especially if you smoke Cuban cigars, which I did. However, you're smoking quality, and not quantity. Smoking actually becomes enjoyable again, especially with a pipe. Most pipe smokers I know only smoke a bowl or two a day, they smoke quality, handmade, natural tobaccos, the flavour and taste is fantastic and there's nothing quite like a contemplative moment with a pipe. Or half an hour, for that matter. The cancer risks, compared to smoking, are thought to be less, though there's no conclusive study due to small sample size - only 2% of smokers in the US smoke a pipe.

Pipe tobacco, in general, also contains much less nicotine than cigarette tobacco. So your one bowl a day effectively weans you off cigarettes as well.  

You might be worried that you look like some crusty old frat, gentlemen, I am indeed a crusty old frat. And I don' geef no sheet what other people think I look like, as I sit here smoking the finest tobacco known to man. Quality, not quantity. 

And if you're worried about your street cred, may I remind you all that we're on a prog rock forum ? ;-)

EDIT: this is not to say pipe smoking carries no risk. All tobacco smoking carries risks, the same as drinking alcohol carries cancer risks. The Surgeon General etc etc. "Healthier alternatives if you just can't give up" rather than "You SHOULD smoke a pipe". 


Edited by Davesax1965 - February 09 2020 at 03:30

Nicotine is addictive. Use the same willpower to smoke not to smoke. 

I was a very heavy smoker (30 to 40 a day, maybe more at the weekend) but finally quit smoking 8 years ago (I'm 57) and 'cold turkey' was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life so I can empathize with those who are finding it tough. My mood swings were on the cusp of bi-polar and I gained a lot of weight. There is no real secret to quitting but what I found pivotal in the end was simply 'dropping' every single one of my acquaintances who smoked. Yes, that sounds a tad extreme but desperate measures etc. The vast majority of said acquaintances never sought out my company afterwards so maybe we were just bonded by slavery. Best cure for a lot of addictions is thinning out the herd...One of the best incentives of all is that it's an instant 'massive' pay rise.


Edited by ExittheLemming - February 10 2020 at 03:10